JANE LEE
Sports Editor
According to Nuke LaLoosh in the popular 1988 baseball movie “Bull Durham,” “Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.”
And sometimes you get both. Just ask the Pepperdine baseball team.
Anyone who’s seen the movie would know that it’s hard to take an oddball like Nuke seriously, but his statement definitely has truth to it, as evidenced by happenings at the annual alumni baseball game at Eddy D. Field Stadium on Saturday.
The Waves battled the Pepperdine alumni team for five innings before a heavy rainfall halted action, with the youngsters pulling out a 3-2 preseason victory.
As dark clouds hovered over the field, the Alumni came out strong, posting two runs in the top of the first to create an early hole for the Waves, who responded by tying the game in the bottom half of the inning.
After Pepperdine freshman starter Danny Ferris settled down and threw two perfect innings to cool off the hot bats of the Alumni, junior Danny Worth led the Waves off in the bottom of the third with a home run to dead center field to put his team up 3-2.
“Even though the game’s just for fun, I don’t like losing to them,” Worth said. “I love seeing all the old teammates I’ve played with, but I wasn’t going to let them win.”
Worth’s home run would do just that, keeping the Alumni away from any chance of winning as they were held scoreless for two more innings before the game was called due to rain.
Ask any player from both sides, however, and they’ll say the alumni game is about so much more than winning — and rain.
“I just love watching all the guys come back,” Head Coach Steve Rodriguez said. “Regardless of how successful they are now, they revert straight back to the relationships they had here because they are relationships that last forever.”
Rodriguez said the relationships are so special because of the endless hours all of the players spent together both on and off the field.
“When you’re with guys for four years, you’re doing everything together — from morning workouts to lifting to playing to traveling to hotel rooms — so you get to know these people better than you do most people in your life,” he said. “When you get to see all of them again, that’s what makes events like this fun.”
Former Waves Paul Coleman, a 2006 draft pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Chad Tracy, picked up by the Texas Rangers in the same draft, were two such guys present in the Alumni dugout.
Both players had participated in the game in previous years — but always as opponents to the alumni.
“It was awkward,” Tracy said. “It was just that the thought creeps into your mind that I could be a senior right now and still be playing with those guys, so it’s just weird to think I could still be on that side had I made a different decision.”
Coleman, however, voiced just the opposite reaction of Tracy.
“It wasn’t awkward being back or anything,” Coleman said. “I work out at Pepperdine three or four times a week because I live in Malibu in the offseason, so it was just enjoyable to see all my friends and former teammates.”
Although their feelings on returning may have differed, Tracy couldn’t agree more with the latter part of his former teammate’s comment.
“I loved going out there and seeing all those guys I hadn’t seen since the end of last season,” he said. “It was great to mingle with them, and I also got a different perspective being on the other side since I’m so used to wearing that Pepperdine Waves jersey.”
Although neither Coleman nor Tracy participated in the game, there was hope among the Waves that Tracy would take an at-bat if his former teammate and good friend, senior pitcher Robert Della Grotta, was put into the game.
“That was just a nasty rumor going around Pepperdine,” Tracy said with a laugh. “I roomed with Bob for three years and he’s one of my best friends. Everybody always jokes about it because we’ve had our fair share of battles, so the guys were hinting if he came in, there would be a chance I’d go out there, but that wasn’t true.”
Tracy and Coleman had good excuses for not getting in on the action, though, as both are saving themselves for their first trip to Spring Training in just a few short weeks.
Tracy, who enjoyed a successful season with the Class-A Short Season Spokane Indians, will report to Surprise, Ariz., before heading to the Midwest to play Low-A ball and eventually moving up to High-A ball in Bakersfield before the end of the season.
“It’s been a blast and I’ve met a lot of cool people so far,” he said. “I’ve been off for about four months and there’s only so much preparation you can do so I’m ready to get going again.
“I’ve heard Spring Training is not fun at all because of all the workouts, but I’ll be living with (former Wave standout pitcher) Kea Kometani, so that should be fun.”
And after enjoying a season with the Ogden Raptors of the Dodgers’ Rookie team in Utah, Coleman said he expects to be playing with High-A Inland Empire of the California League in San Bernardino by the end of the season.
“So far it’s going very well with the Dodgers,” he said. “I had a good season in Utah last year, so the Dodgers and I are hoping I can skip a level in the minor leagues.”
If Coleman is able to achieve such a feat, it would be of no surprise to the Pepperdine community, which watched him receive the 2007 John Scolinos Distinguished Player Award following the alumni game.
The award, in its third year, is given annually to a Pepperdine baseball player in recognition of exemplary behavior during a season or career in the name of the legendary Scolinos.
“We had a lot of really good candidates and it was well-deserved for Paul,” Rodriguez said. “It was very heartfelt for me because he’s a tremendous young man, just how he goes about his business. He’s going to cherish that, and I’m sure his family will do the same.”
Tracy also couldn’t say enough about his former teammate and friend.
“It was great to see him get that,” Tracy said. “The speech he gave was great because he recognized every single person who’s been a big influence for him, so the speech was an indication of why he received the award.
“The guy is amazing. He’s one of my best friends for life. He personified a winner, and he’s just one of those guys who truly values his friends and family.”
Coleman, who mentioned he appreciated the kind words said about him by Rodriguez at the ceremony, said he felt truly blessed to receive such an award.
“That was a great honor,” he said. “Scolinos is quite the legendary baseball coach, and to receive an award in honor of his name was really special.”
Both the award and the relationships gained are sure to last a lifetime — rain or shine.
02-01-2007